


Envy

by malchanceux



Category: Spectacular Spider-Man (TV), Spider-Man (Movieverse), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Genre: M/M, Norman's a horrible parent, Prompt Fill, Underage - Freeform, but I'm sure he's great in bed Pete you'll be fine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-22
Updated: 2013-02-21
Packaged: 2017-12-03 05:08:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/694498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malchanceux/pseuds/malchanceux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The five times Peter should have been an Osborn, and the one time Norman was glad he wasn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for the Spiderkink prompt here: spiderkink.livejournal. com/1612. html?thread=622924#t622924

Norman is in his office when he hears the resounding _‘ding’_ of the elevator reaching the penthouse floor. He pauses mid signature—momentarily distracted from his paper work as he listens and waits. He doesn’t have any meetings today if he remembers correctly  _(and he does),_ so that leaves—

“Peter!” Harry’s greeting echoes off the marble walls and into his study. The door is closed, but that’s never stopped the uneven crackle of his adolescent sons’ voice before. “About twenty minutes late as always, but hey, it’s not like I have an exam to pass or anything.”

Harry’s voice is playful, teasing—but Norman knows his son too well not to notice the hint of sarcasm; the serious tone underneath the lighthearted jibe. His lips set in a thin line. Harry and Peter had been going back and forth between the Osborn penthouse and Peter’s Aunt’s house for the last two weeks to help each other study, but Norman can’t help noticing that Harry’s doing less of the helping, and more of the _being_ _helped._

Norman turns his attention back to his stacks of paper work—determined to finish before late evening—but an hour later he feels the need to get up and stretch his legs, if only for a moment. He wonders into the kitchen—fixes a cup of coffee—before he finds himself in front of his son’s bedroom, peering in through the mostly closed door at the two unsuspecting young teens.

As Norman presumed, Harry’s the only one actually doing any work. Peter’s leaning over him and the desk, showing Harry how to solve a particular problem. The sight makes Norman’s stomach uneasy, forms the slightest bit of disappointment into an almost physical thing: a thorn settling in the pit of his gut. This is his son, his only heir to the empire he’s worked so hard to build, and he’s having trouble with _Algebra._

From the conversations he’s had with the two boys, his son alone, or what he’s picked up by eavesdropping, Norman knows that Peter’s grade point average has only taken a slight hit from him having a part time job as a freelance photographer. Peter manages school, the Daily Bugle, and having to all but take care of his Aunt without complaint—his only foreseeable issue being his habit of losing time. An understandable flaw, however, as even Norman himself finds the hours almost flying away some days.

He finds it odd, defending the boys’ constant tardiness—and that he’s able to see himself more in Peter _Parker_ than he can in Harry _Osborn_. But perhaps this is the price of all the sins he’s committed to get this far: having everything he’s ever wanted, but no suitable candidate to pass it on to.

“Ahg! This is ridiculous!” Harry slumps back in his chair, defeated. “What genius put  _letters_  in math equations anyway?”

“Al Khwarizmi.”

“What?”

“Al Khwarizmi. He’s the guy who invented Algebra.”*

Harry lifts an eyebrow at Peter, frowning.

“Dude, _why_ do you even know that?” 

Sipping his long since cooled coffee, Norman stalks back to his office on silent feet—noting the emotion riling up inside him, and pointedly not looking too deeply into what it is. He had paper work to finish; he didn’t have time to wallow in whatever it was he was feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Honestly I spent maybe two minutes searching google and I could very much be wrong about this. :'D I recommend fact checking before saying this to anyone.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry’s particularly excited when he all but hops into the limo, leaning out the door to shout a few last _‘goodbyes’_ to his school friends. Today had been a _particularly_ good day.

“Son,” Harry’s head snaps to the side as the familiar greeting washes over him.

“Dad, what are you doing here?” he blurts. “Aren’t you working late tonight?”

“Something’s come up; I won’t be needed at the office until later this evening.”

“Oh, well that’s cool,” Harry tries to get a handle on his excitement—tries to play it down a bit—but his eagerness still shows through, almost pathetically so. “Football try outs are coming around soon… Peter said he’d go with me—so we’re both signing up this year.”

Norman lifts an eyebrow at that. He has no illusion about his sons—or Peter’s—physical capabilities. But Parker has managed to exceed expectation before, so maybe—

Well, maybe. Academics and sports were of a slightly different breed.

“That test was today, correct?” Norman asks, deciding it isn’t worth further discussion. “Algebra? Did you pass?”

Harry positively beams at that—reaching into his back pack eagerly; his mouth going a mile a minute.

“Oh I more than passed alright—everything was a gazillion times easier than when we went over the review!” he pulls out a slightly crumpled paper, handing it to Norman. “I got an eighty-nine!”  

Norman takes the paper from his son, quickly scanning over each problem. Some answers are correct, while others bare a red inked ‘X’ alongside it—but mostly, obviously, they are right.

“That’s good, son.” He hears himself say, laying a hand over Harry’s shoulder. But his thoughts are distant, even with his usual scowl being pinched in a slightly upward angle. He’s proud of his son, mostly. This is a step in the right direction.

“I’m glad to see Peter’s tutoring is paying off.”

Norman doesn’t see the devastation that one sentence causes as he hands back the test. His thoughts are too preoccupied by messy hair and brown eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

It’s not often Norman Osborn does a little soul searching—but on the few occasions he finds himself doing just that, he usual discovers something troublesome: some selfish desire that’ll make his life all the more difficult. More often than not, it’s an unhealthy obsession.

In this case, it’s only slightly different than all the other soul searching sessions.

For one, Norman Osborn has never taken kindly to feeling _envious_ —which is most definitely the only way to describe his feelings toward a certain Parker. And two, Norman Osborn isn’t used to wanting something so unattainable.

Sitting in his office chair, he leans back and rereads the news article.

**_“DOC OC ON THE LOOSE—BOY DETERMINED TO MAKE ENDS MEET_ **

_Local photographer Peter Parker, 17, went above and beyond to capture Doctor Octopus’ violent rampage through Manhattan last Tuesday. Though not well known in the journalist community, Parker has been chasing after dangerous villains for a photo and a story since he first started his Sophomore year at Midtown High—going to great lengths to secure a place in the Bugle Newspaper to help his small, struggling family…”_

There was a photograph too—someone had taken a shot of Peter, crawling through shrapnel and screaming citizens, to get a better angle of Doctor Octavius. It was ironic this story had been published, really, because it had probably taken the place of Peter’s article, meaning he hadn’t gotten paid to help his “small, struggling family”. Still, it was good publicity for him, meaning he’d have a better time at publishing articles in the future, and probably have a good chance at landing a steady job at the Bugle if he kept up the pace.

Norman tenses and glares down at the paper, slightly crumpled in his tightening grip, feeling envy run unhinged through him and turn to rage. He curses Peter—curses the boy’s parents and their name—but mostly he curses the universe, and the fact it had given Peter the _Parker_ name, instead of the Osborn title.


End file.
